1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transportation vehicle system and, in particular, manual input performed by an operator to assign a travel path to a transportation vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a travel instruction is given, a transportation vehicle, such as an overhead traveling vehicle and an automated transportation vehicle or the like, autonomously selects a travel path. Such a transportation vehicle stores a map illustrating a travel route. On the map, the travel route is divided into a plurality of segments and, for example, a coordinate of segment boundaries and travel time required for each segment are illustrated. In such a coordinate, a difference between both ends of the segment defines a length of the segment. For example, two types of travel instructions are provided such as a transportation instruction given to assign a “from position” where an article is loaded and a “to position” where an article is unloaded and an instruction given to simply assign a position of a travel destination.
However, the environment for manually assigning the travel path to the transportation vehicle has not yet been developed. That is because, generally, the transportation vehicle has only to be assigned with the travel destination, and the travel path to the travel destination is not important. However, when a layout of the travel route is changed or the like, it is necessary to assign the travel path for testing, and then to instruct the transportation vehicle to travel. In such a case, in order to assign the travel path through an existing method, a plurality of instructions in which the travel destination is assigned need to be generated. Hereinafter, a path that is selected from the travel route for the transportation vehicle to actually travel will be referred to as a travel path.
Patent Document 1, “JP2000-153905A”, discloses that a transportation vehicle is manually operated through the use of a remote controller. In a case where an overhead traveling vehicle is used, when executing such a manual operation, an operator needs to assign a speed and a divergent direction to the transportation vehicle while walking along the travel route, which thereby detracts efficiency.